Dialects and corporate videos

Q:  On the last video we translated with a company, there were complaints about words used.  What is this issue?

The concept of dialect is small, but important.  In Spanish, for example, there are 13 dialects of Spanish that may affect any corporate video, subtitling or document project you may have.  Dialect affects you in several ways.  First, the accent of the speaker.  In English, a dialect accent refers to, for example, a Kentucky accent versus a New York accent.  A Louisiana accent versus a Boston accent.  Each of these regions have very recognizable ways of speaking English.  Yet, American is a dialect of English in itself — U.K. English is the real “neutral” English, and England also has a boatload of dialect accents inside its small country, not to mention across the Commonwealth.   There is an accent that could be called the “broadcast accent” for most countries.  For English, is U.K. English, so there is a broadcast for the language family (English) as well as a broadcast for each country.   Dialect also affects Spanish in the words spoken or written, as well as the sound of the accent.  Little things like “hammer” or “concrete” may be totally different words from one dialect to another.  Or, the difference can be quite major such as whether to use the formal or the familiar version of “you” — one can be considered “snooty” by one dialect and the other too aggressive or familiar to another dialect.  The closer the dialect you use is to your audience, the more effective will be your project.  So, although “neutral” sounds nice, it may be better to have “Mexican” for California, “Puerto Rican” for New York, “Cuban” for Miami, or “Neutral” for South America.  Yet, if your audience is comprised of a variety of listeners, the “neutral” is really the only choice - because neutral is the least offensive and most acceptable of all accents and written word.

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